Woman who received threatening emails revealed in Petraeus scandal

Petraeus

The Associated Press

This July 13, 2011, photo made available on the International Security Assistance Force's Flickr website shows the former Commander of International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Gen. Davis Petraeus (left) shaking hands with Paula Broadwell, co-author of "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."As details emerge about Petraeus' extramarital affair with his biographer, Broadwell, including a second woman who allegedly received threatening emails from the author, members of Congress say they want to know exactly when the now ex-CIA director and retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren't told sooner.

WASHINGTON — The identity of the woman whose complaints sparked the FBI investigation that ended David Petraeus’s public career emerged Sunday, as members of Congress demanded a fuller explanation of how and when law enforcement agents learned that the CIA director was having an extramarital affair.

Jill Kelley, the State Department’s liaison to the military’s Joint Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., complained to the FBI about harassing emails that investigators traced back to Paula Broadwell, a married Army reservist who was Petraeus’s biographer, according to military sources.

U.S. officials say the FBI’s investigation of Broadwell’s emails led them to discover explicit messages between her and Petraeus suggesting that the two were having an affair. Petraeus told Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about the situation Tuesday, and Clapper urged Petraeus to resign. The White House first learned of it Wednesday, officials said, and President Barack Obama accepted the resignation Friday. Key members of Congress found out only hours before the public did.

Kelley, based at the command’s Tampa headquarters, was described as a close friend of Petraeus. Officials have said that Broadwell considered the woman she emailed as a rival for the retired general’s affections.

Petraeus took the CIA job last year after retiring as a four-star general, having been ground commander of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said that when Petraeus told her Friday he was quitting over an affair, it was “like a lightning bolt.”

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Feinstein said she wants to know why the FBI didn’t notify the intelligence committees sooner.

The incident “could have had an effect on national security,” Feinstein said. “We should have been told.”

Feinstein also backed away from her statement earlier that Obama should not have accepted Petraeus’s resignation, saying, “When you realize additional complications . . . I think he did the right thing. I think the president really had no choice but to accept that resignation,” she said.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who chairs the House intelligence committee, has serious questions about how the matter was handled, and about the former CIA director’s conduct, a senior committee aide said. Senior FBI and CIA officials are scheduled to brief lawmakers Tuesday, when the government reopens after the Veterans Day holiday.

Petraeus was scheduled to testify on the attack in Benghaz, Libya, this week, presenting the findings of his independent investigation into the situation on the ground, but will now be replaced in the hearing by Acting CIA Director Mike Morrell.

Feinstein said there was “absolutely not” a connection between the resignation and the consulate attack, but not everyone is convinced.

“I have real questions about this. I think the timeline has to be looked at. I’m suggesting there’s a lot of unanswered questions,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said on CNN’s State of the Union.

King, the House Homeland Security Committee chair, said the current timeline “just doesn’t add up.”

Republicans are pushing to have the former CIA director testify on Benghazi as a civilian. King called him “an absolutely necessary witness,” and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he “would not rule out” calling Petraeus.

As information dribbles out about the scandal that upended the career of the most influential national security official of his generation, many questions remain unanswered. It’s not clear, for example, whether the FBI obtained a warrant to read Petraeus’s email, or merely reviewed messages he sent that resided in Broadwell’s account.

It’s also unclear why the FBI did not notify anyone in the White House that the CIA director had been caught up in an investigation. Doug Heye, a spokes[erspn for Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Cantor had a conversation with an FBI whistle-blower about the affair and potential “national security concerns.”

But when Cantor raised the matter with the FBI, Heye said, he was told the agency was not able to confirm or deny any investigation, and that all necessary steps were being taken to make sure no confidential information was at risk.

U.S. officials have said that there are no indications Petraeus improperly shared classified information with Broadwell. While some observers have suggested that a CIA director carrying on an affair is subject to blackmail, former CIA officials say extramarital affairs are common at all levels of the CIA, and typically are viewed as a security problem if officers are involved with foreigners or people who pose risks.